Kuwait Elects More Muslims, Oust Liberals

DIANA ELIAS

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, July 5, 2003

Associated Press Writer

Kuwaitis elected a Parliament that further tightened the grip of fundamentalist Muslims and supporters of the royal-led Cabinet on the all-male legislature, while reducing the influence of Westernized liberals, results showed Sunday.

Voters ousted most of the Parliament's liberals, raising fears of spreading extremism.

The government's firmer control of the legislature following Saturday's vote makes it easier to pass long-delayed economic reform plans, including the sale of state utilities, in a country that has relied on oil wealth to maintain pampered lifestyles.

Fundamentalists who seek to impose a more wide-ranging version of Islamic law to preserve Kuwait's Muslim identity won 21 seats _ one more than in the previous parliament.

Voters also elected 14 pro-Cabinet members, up from the 12 in the outgoing 50-seat Parliament.

Liberals and their supporters _ who have called for allowing women to vote _ won just three seats, down from 14. Long-serving liberal leaders Ahmed al-Rubei and Abdullah al-Naibari were among those voted out.

The remaining 12 positions went to independents, up from four in the last house.

Political science teacher Massouma al-Mubarak said the results raised concerns that the "electoral base was extremist."

Ex-lawmaker and liberal human rights activist Ali al-Baghli said he believes many of the independents would vote with liberals.

He declined to identify them by name, saying: "I don't want to scare them off … liberalism has become like a disease."

The poor showing by liberal candidates was a cause for joy for leading Islamist Abdul-Razzak al-Shayeji, who believes they paid the price for supporting the United States.

Liberals sided with the U.S.-led war on terrorism and wanted the Kuwaiti government to clamp down on a perceived "culture of hate" promoted by extremists against the West.

Under Kuwait's system, the emir has ultimate authority and can dissolve the legislature. Still, parliament holds significant influence and blocked the emir's attempts to allow women to vote.

In the first government comment on the vote, Kuwait Television quoted the deputy prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, as saying Kuwaitis had demonstrated "political awareness and responsibility" in the elections.

The outgoing Parliament strongly opposed privatization, the introduction of income taxes and allowing foreign companies to develop Kuwait's northern oil fields. Most lawmakers feared the steps would mean monopolies, the sacking of Kuwaiti civil servants and handing Kuwait's only natural resource to foreign firms after decades of nationalization.

Kuwait's Parliament represents just 15 percent of the country's citizens, with the vote granted only to men aged 21 and over who are not members of the police or military.